Items tagged with Androi

As the company promised, Barnes & Noble has delivered a software update to its 7-inch NOOK Color devices that push them still more in the direction of a general-purpose Android tablet, and away from being a standalone e-book reader. Some customers have rooted their NOOK Colors and installed custom ROMs, already turning their devices into general tablets. The software update delivers Android 2.2 (Froyo) to the NOOK Color. With that, the NOOK Color now has access to Adobe's Flash 10.1. The update does not, however, add the general Android Market to the device. However, customers can use the new...Read more...

The Android based G1 (or Google) phone sold exclusively in the states by T-Mobile apparently executes typed text entered in any text entry box including on a web page or in the address book. Handsets running Android release 1.0 TC4-RC29 or earlier are affected by this flaw. What makes matters worse is the fact that the commands are executed as the "Root" user. Due to the Open Source nature of the Android OS, the bug was caught by users and traced down to a few lines of code in the init.rc system file. To try this out: "...Save anything you’re working on (this will reboot your phone!), open the...Read more...

As many T-Mobile G1 users are waiting for the RC29 update that started rolling out a few days ago to hit their phones, Google is already in the process of releasing another update.Generally speaking, people welcome updates with open arms, hoping that the update will improve their phone’s functionality. This update has a few people upset, however. You see, last week, a tinkerer realized that it was possible to “jailbreak” the phone and gain root access by using telnetd. This jailbreak gives you full admin abilities, right down to the core of the handset’s file system. This access allows for both...Read more...

We’re not so sure what to think of this: According to recent reports, Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse reportedly made a comment to the National Press Club in Washington, saying that Android (in its current form) is not “good enough to put the Sprint brand on it.” Although we can’t weigh in on Android’s usefulness with much personal experience quite yet, this is a very strong comment, especially given the fact that Android is the first truly revolutionary thing to happen to mobile phones in a while. Thankfully, Hesse didn’t completely rule out the possibility of an Android phone in the future. We’ve heard...Read more...

Heads-up: Apple isn’t the only one implementing remote kill switches for applications in their phones. According to recent reports, the Android platform has one, too. The thing is: At least Google owns up to it up front (instead of allowing a developer to discover it like Apple did) by including a mention in the Android Market terms of service, saying: Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement ... in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion. Given that nearly anything...Read more...

The launch of the Google's first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, was both widely anticipated and highly covered. Of course, one big negative, one frequently pointed out as a real problem for the iPhone as well, is the associated carrier with the device. T-Mobile has the smallest 3G footprint of any major carrier, and additionally --- well, the devil is in the details.T-Mobile's advertised data plan for the $179 phone are $25 for unlimited data and voice and 400 text messages, or $35 for unlimited everything. Well, that's when you really, really need to take out your magnifying...Read more...

In a glitzy multimedia event reminiscent of some other high-profile phone we probably don't need to mention, Google and T-Mobile today introduced the T-Mobile G1, the first Android-based cell phone. Pricing and availability details (that's all you care about, right?) are as follows:Existing T-Mobile customers can order today. However, delivery and store availability won't be until Oct. 22nd. Pricing is $179 with a two-year plan. For other countries, November will see the device in the U.K. and it'll spread across Europe in 2009.Additionally, earlier today Amazon.com announced...Read more...

For some time now, rumors of the GPhone (or Google phone) have been circulating around the web. While it didn't make a whole lot of sense that Google was going to get into the hardware business, especially the highly competitive handset business, it seemed reasonable that Google had an interest in the handheld market for obvious reasons, not the least of which is the huge potential in search. Though, as we came to find out, it wasn't so much the hardware but the "platform" that Google was interested in. Tomorrow (9/23) will bring a lot more clarity to...Read more...